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SETI Projects, Institutions, & Organizations

SETI Institute, USA

The mission of the SETI Institute is to "explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to apply the knowledge gained to inspire and guide present and future generations."

Founded in November 1984, the SETI Institute began operations on February 1, 1985. Today it employs over 130 scientists, educators, and support staff. Research at the Institute is anchored by three Centers: the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, the Center for Education, and the Center for Public Outreach.

IAA SETI Permanent Committee

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) formally established a committee for SETI science as far back as the early 1970s. Over the decades, it has variously been known as the IAA SETI Committee, the IAA SETI Permanent Study Group (SPSG), and most recently as the IAA SETI Permanent Committee. The Committee currently operates under the IAA Commission on Space Physical Sciences.

You can find papers and abstracts from the Permanent Committee meetings here.

Berkeley SETI Research Center, USA

The Berkeley SETI Research Center hosted the Breakthrough Listen program, a ten-year initiative with $100 million funding that began in July 2015. The Berkeley SETI Research Center is independent from the SETI Institute, but in close collaboration with many researchers there.

UCLA SETI, USA

The research mission of UCLA SETI is to “find evidence of other civilizations in the universe and extract information encoded in extraterrestrial signals”. A research centre, with a keen focus on public communication, home to the UCLA SETI course, and host of the citizen science collaboration on Zooniverse "Are we alone in the universe?"

The Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center (PSETI), USA

The Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence (PSETI) Center advances the search for technosignatures (observable signs of extraterrestrial technology) through research, education, and international collaboration. Hosted by the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, PSETI is a hub for cutting-edge SETI science, home to the biannual Penn State SETI Symposium, and a monthly PSETI Seminar Series and Journal Club. Form to register interest for 2025 Symposium: here.

SETI Post-Detection Hub at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland

The SETI Post-Detection Hub (est. 2022) at the University of St Andrews emphasizes comprehensive preparedness across science, society, governance, and communication. The SETI Post-Detection Hub is independent of the SETI Institute and aims at finding common ground between international perspectives on post-detection responses.

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the United Nations office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. UNOOSA serves as the secretariat for the General Assembly's only committee dealing exclusively with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space: the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)

COSPAR was created in 1958 to promote international cooperation in the pursuit of scientific research in space, formed after the launch of Sputnik 1 by the USSR in late 1957, and Explorer 1 by the US in early 1958. More fully known as the Committee on Space Research of the International Council for Science (ICSU), COSPAR was created with an emphasis on the exchange of results, information and opinions in space research. The primary means by which COSPAR achieves its objectives is the biennial COSPAR Scientific Assembly. In the execution of its primary charter, COSPAR meetings and events have become key venues for the creation and extension of partnerships between the individuals and nations pursuing research in the space sciences.

NASA Astrobiology Institute

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) established the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) in 1998 as an innovative way to develop the field of astrobiology and provide a scientific framework for flight missions. NAI is a virtual, distributed organization of competitively-selected teams that integrate astrobiology research and training programs in concert with the national and international science communities.

METI International

The Primary Objectives And Purposes Of METI International Are To:

• Conduct scientific research and educational programs in Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
• Promote international cooperation and collaboration in METI, SETI, and astrobiology.
• Understand and communicate the societal implications and relevance of searching for life beyond Earth, even before detection of extraterrestrial life.
• Foster multidisciplinary research on the design and transmission of interstellar messages, building a global community of scholars from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts.
• Research and communicate to the public the many factors that influence the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe, with a special emphasis on the last three terms of the Drake Equation:
  1. the fraction of life-bearing worlds on which intelligence evolves,
  2. the fraction of intelligence-bearing worlds with civilizations having the capacity and motivation for interstellar communication,
  3. and the longevity of such civilizations.
• Offer programs to the public and to the scholarly community that foster increased awareness of the challenges facing our civilization’s longevity, while encouraging individual and community activities that support the sustainability of human culture on multigenerational timescales, which is essential for long-term METI and SETI research.

UK SETI Research Network

The UK SETI Research Network (UKSRN) is a group of UK academics at a number of institutions who are active in the field of the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. Set up in 2013 with Lord Martin Rees as patron, its purpose is to promote academic SETI activity in the UK.

The SETI League

The SETI League is a grassroots, international alliance of amateur and professional radioastronomers, radio amateurs, microwave experimenters and digital signal processing enthusiasts… founded in 1994 as a membership supported, nonprofit [501(c)(3)], educational and scientific organization… established in response to Congress terminating all NASA SETI funding in October of 1993.

Finding Current SETI Literature

See also: SETI Primer

Monthly SETI News

• seti.news

Annual Literature Summaries

The SETI Primer gives an excellent account of meetings and key events from the 1800s up until 2018.

Jason Wright and Macy J. Huston have produced a contemporary series of annual SETI summary reports, in the spirit of Trimble's "Astrophysics in XXXX" series:

• SETI in 2020
• SETI in 2021

Search terms include: SETI, CETI, METI, ETI, technosignatures, extraterrestrial intelligence, alien...

Key Repositories for SETI Literature

SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a Digital Library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant.

Classic ADS search interface

Use the search term bibgroup:SETI to access the student-maintained SETI ADS bibgroup curated by Jason Wright & Macy Huston.

ArXiv

arXiv.org is a highly-automated electronic archive and distribution server for research articles across physics, math, computer science, and more.

OSF Preprint Archive

Open Science Framework offers over two million preprints across disciplines.

archive.org NASA documents

NASA’s technical documents collection hosted on the Internet Archive.

Catalogues and Bibliographies

• SETI Primer Compiled/Edited by Edited by Michael P. Oman-Reagan et al. with direct contributions from Kathryn Denning, Andrew Fraknoi, Jill C. Tarter, John W. Traphagan, Willi Lempert (2018)

• Catalogue of SETI publications – Compiled/Edited by Stephane Dumas (January 2016)

• A Bibliography on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – by Eugene F. Mallove, Mary M. Connors, Robert L. Forward, and Z. Paprotny (1978). NASA Reference Publication 1021.